News

Czech Police intervene against 1 000 extremists protesting refugee reception on state holiday marking November 1939 and 1989

18.11.2015 5:02 The main theme of today's events in the Czech Republic ostensibly commemorating the student victims of Nazism in 1939 and the student demonstrations in 1989 was in fact the current refugee crisis. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) called on people to moderate the anger they feel about refugees.  full story

Berlin Economic Institute: Refugees will be of long-term economic benefit to Germany

17.11.2015 18:46 Refugees can be of economic benefit to Germany in the long run as long as the country manages to employ them. In the current issue of the weekly Der Spiegel that statement is made by the President of the Berlin Economic Institute (DIW), Marcel Fratzcher.  full story

Czech Police refuse students access to 1989 memorial in advance of President joining anti-Islam activists for their event

17.11.2015 16:42 Czech President Miloš Zeman addressed an event organized by the Bloc against Islam (Blok proti islámu - BPI) on the occasion of the state holiday today and said those who disagree with the receiving of migrants should not be "labelled" Fascists, Islamophobes or racists. BPI is against refugee reception.  full story

Analysis: Will Czech President Zeman make it into the 2015 extremism report?

17.11.2015 15:13 For almost 14 days the group called "We Don't Want Islam in the Czech Republic" (Islám v ČR nechceme - IVČRN) and its political wing, the Bloc against Islam (Bloc proti Islámu - BPI) have been constantly calling for people to attend an assembly in support of Czech President Miloš Zeman "in his opinions about immigration and Islam". The event is to take place at Albertov in Prague today on the anniversary of 17 November 1989 and 1939.  full story

Czech President's spokesperson calls proponents of refugee reception "the real extremists"

17.11.2015 2:16 Tuesday's state holiday in the Czech Republic will see reverent commemorations of the events of 17 November from the years of 1989 and 1939, as well as demonstrations against migration, against the rejection of refugees, and against Government policy. Police are warning against extremist provocation and will be deploying several hundred officers in Prague alone.  full story

Czech ministers warn that extremists may attempt provocations on state holiday 17 November

17.11.2015 0:54 During the public events in the Czech Republic on the 17 November state holiday there is the risk that extremists will attempt provocations, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Interior
Minister Milan Chovanec (both Czech Social Democrats - ČSSD) said today after meeting to discuss the current security threats facing the country. Sobotka said concerns over the course of the celebrations are connected to tensions in society sparked by the terrorist attacks in Paris.  full story

Czech Republic: Detainees condemn attacks in Paris and end hunger strike

16.11.2015 20:14 Refugees in the detention facility in Drahonice (Louny district) have condemned the terrorist attacks in Paris. They have reportedly ended their hunger strike to show respect for the suffering of Europeans.  full story

Police identify more of the Paris attackers

16.11.2015 19:17 French detectives are gradually managing to identify the attackers who murdered at least 129 people in Paris on Friday and to accumulate more information about them. The following is an overview of the basic facts about the individual presumed perpetrators as reported by the international media.  full story

Julius Zajac: Let's defend Europe together, beginning with unity

15.11.2015 23:23 After the terrorist attacks in France, antagonism in the Czech Republic is growing against the so-called "optimists" ("sluníčkáři"). Who are they?  full story

Czech PM Sobotka: The Czech Republic must think of its own security

15.11.2015 22:46 Speaking on Czech Television today in response to Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris, which claimed the lives of as many as 130 people, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) said the Czech Republic must aid people in need while simultaneously thinking about its own security. He also said he was disappointed by the words of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker about maintaining the EU's current approach to immigration.  full story

European Commission President Juncker: EU countries must not reject refugees because of Paris attacks

15.11.2015 22:08 Speaking today at a side press conference convened at the summit of the G20 countries in Turkey, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said European Union countries should not begin to reject refugees in response to Friday's attacks in Paris. In his view there is no need for the EU-28 to change their approach to addressing the migration crisis.  full story

Seven people connected to one assassin detained in France, some commandoes apparently managed to flee

15.11.2015 21:29 As reported earlier, François Molins, the Paris Prosecutor, has announced that French investigators have identified the first of the assassins who killed 129 people in Friday in Paris during a coordinated attack. Omar Ismail Mostefai (age 29) was identified by one of his fingers that was found at the crime scene of the Bataclan concert hall.  full story

Police have identified the first of the Paris assassins

15.11.2015 20:12 François Molins, the Paris Prosecutor, has announced that French investigators have identified the first of the assassins who killed 129 people in Friday in Paris during a coordinated attack. Omar Ismail Mostefai (age 29) was identified by one of his fingers that was found at the Bataclan concert hall.  full story

International Romani Union: Freedom is the most important value

14.11.2015 17:44 The International Romani Union has sent the following letter to the French President about the 13 November terrorist attacks in Paris:  full story

Islamic State claims responsibility for assassinations in Paris

14.11.2015 15:09 The Islamic State (IS) organization has released a statement claiming responsibility for Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris. Shortly before that French President François Hollande had attributed the assassinations to them.  full story

One of the biggest terrorist attacks: Assassins murder 126 people in Paris, more than 200 injured

14.11.2015 8:36 The attacks that cost the lives on Friday evening of dozens of people in Paris are being reported by French news servers with the headlines "State of emergency", "Series of suicide assassinations", "Unprecedented assaults". The media is also noticing that the attackers chose the unlucky day of Friday the 13th for their assault.  full story

Interview with Czech psychologist: Children's homes no substitute for parental love

13.11.2015 21:54 "I decided that instead of attempting to rescue 100 children at once, I would take one, two or three to be my own," Martina Vančáková told herself while still a student - and she and her husband today do actually care as foster parents for two Romani siblings in addition to their own two biological children. News server Romea.cz interviewed Vančáková, the psychologist who founded the "Our Romani Child" project at the Foster Care Center in Prague, about what children living in children's homes undergo, how to support the healthy identity of Romani children in a non-Romani foster family, and how to work with one's own prejudices.  full story

Turkey's first Romani television station to begin online broadcast

12.11.2015 21:15 The Turkish edition of CNN and other media outlets report that Ahmet Çokyaşar, the chair of the Turkish Romani Confederation, says giving Romani people a voice and providing a different perspective on them from the one produced by other media outlets is the main aim of the first Romani television station in Turkey, which will begin broadcasting on 20 November. The station, called "Roman TV", will first begin broadcasting in Romani and Turkish through the Internet  full story

Czech Republic: Assembly announced in Prague in support of hunger-striking foreign detainees

12.11.2015 20:46 Evangelical clergyman Mikuláš Vymětal, who is working with foreign nationals protesting their detention in the Czech Republic by going on hunger strike, has informed the media of new developments in their situation: "The foreign nationals who are continuing their hunger strike to protest their detention in the facility at Drahonice were told by police officers at around 7 AM today that they should prepare to leave the facility. They were not told where they will be going. Yesterday evening police instructed them to take down signs the detainees had posted in the rooms where they are locked up that read 'Freedom' and 'We Are Not Terrorists'. The leadership of the detention center ultimately abandoned the idea of removing them because he concluded after interviewing them that they are peaceful. Today at 16:00 there will be an assembly in Prague at Klárov in the park near the Malostranská metro station to support the hunger strikers."  full story

Some charges dropped against Romani couple in Greece who cared for Romani child from Bulgaria

12.11.2015 20:08 The Greek wire service Athens News Agency (ANA) reports that a Greek court has dropped charges of abduction against the Romani couple who were discovered in 2013 to be caring for a blonde Romani girl named Maria. Christos Salis and his wife, Eleftheria Dimopoulou, are still being prosecuted for deceiving the authorities by asserting she was their daughter.  full story